Pit-carrying fruit such as olives or the like customarily are packed commercially either whole, pitted, sliced or chopped. Pitted olives may be packed either with or without some edible foreign material, commonly pimento, stuffed into the cavity left by the pitting. The highest price and thus greatest value to the packer is generally obtained from the pitted and stuffed olives, provided that the pitting and stuffing operation does not damage the olive.
Conventional methods and apparatus for pitting fruit, such as olives, have customarily operated by coring the olive from one end and extracting the pit and core out that end. This operation, while fully functional, has customarily resulted in the loss through coring of a substantial portion of the edible meat of the olive as well as the pit. Since pitted olives or other fruit are sold by the producer by net weight, this loss of edible meat represents a direct loss of product and thus of revenue to the packer. Additionally, these conventional techniques and apparatus have been suitable for producing an olive which includes a void or cavity extending from inside the olive out one end of the olive, such that the olive may only be stuffed from that one end. This has also prevented the creation of two essentially similar end portions which otherwise could be obtained by cutting the olive transversely of an axis extending through the blossom and stem ends of the olive, which could thus provide two equally attractive olive end portions for such uses as salads or cocktails.
For other types of drupes, such as peaches, various types of torque pitting apparatus has been available including Haver et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,464 which separates the peach into two end portions by torque pitting while gripping the pit. Such torque pitting apparatus has not been practical on fruits such as olives because the very small size, slick surface and firmness of the olive has made it difficult to grip the olives sufficiently for torque pitting. Additionally, torque pitting to form two end portions tends to tear the interior of the fruit meat, since the pit frequently is of flattened configuration and causes a reaming effect when the meat portions are twisted about an axis through the ends of the fruit.